Computers and electronics manufacturing company Shokz filed a new patent infringement suit against industry giants, this time the defendant being Lenovo, according to a court hearing opened at the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court earlier last month. 

Founded in 2004, Shenzhen-based Shokz develops and sells electro-acoustic products. Since 2007, it has been focusing on bone-conduction speakers and has become a leading sports headphone brand now. According to WIPO Statistics, the company's revenue has increased more than 80-fold in the last seven years.

Relevant reports show that over the past two years, Shokz has filed at least approximately 100 separate lawsuits against more than 39 defendants at 15 Chinese courts, including the Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou IP courts.

The defendants in these cases involve industry leaders like Xiaomi, Iflytek, and others. 

Xiaomi was sued last August for infringing Shokz’s utility model patents and Iflytek last October and November for infringing Shokz’s utility model patents and invention patents.

With such widespread patent enforcement actions, Shokz sets an example for Chinese innovative entities in patent rights protection, according to IP analysts. 

However, not a few of Shokz’s enforcing patents were challenged by its strong rivals. Incomplete statistics suggest that at least 7 of its 16 patents have been partially or completely invalidated up to now. One of the companies’ bone-conduction patents, ZL201721044773.5, has been challenged 13 times and was declared invalid at last.